956 research outputs found
Fusion and Evaluation of 3D Data and Excavation Documents for Comparison of Original and Digital Copy in the Case of a Megalithic Tomb
This contribution shows the preliminary results of the multidisciplinary cooperation of archaeological, technical and heritage issues using the example of the megalithic tomb Kleinenkneten II. The tomb was excavated in the 1930s, but big parts of the documentation have unfortunately been destroyed. Furthermore, some ancient interpretations need to be objectively reviewed. More than 500 historical image data visually document the historical excavation situation. In addition, the current situation was recorded in 3D using modern methods. Geodetic products, such as orthophotos, can be derived from modern data and compared with old plans. Also, a point cloud was calculated from historical images, which can be compared with the current situation. The combination of modern and historical data enables new archaeological interpretations. From a museum perspective, strategies for the construction of authentic value of the 3D model is considered, as well as its communication to the public
Fusion and Evaluation of 3D Data and Excavation Documents for Comparison of Original and Digital Copy in the Case of a Megalithic Tomb
Groups, organizations, families and movements: The sociology of social systems between interaction and society
KĂŒhl S. Groups, organizations, families and movements: The sociology of social systems between interaction and society. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 2020;37(3):496-515.In enhancing a proposal by Luhmann, this contribution shows that it is possible to locate different types of systems between âfaceâtoâfaceâinteractionâ and âsocietyâ: groups, organizations, families and protest movements. The common ground of these is that they use membership to attribute persons to the system or not. However, they differ fundamentally in regard to how they understand membership. In contrast to Luhmann's differentiation between interaction, organization and society, it is not only possible to imagine different types of interlocking systems but also coequal combinations of and transitions between the different types of social systems
On the problem of the justification of river rights
This article aims to work out the social conditions that determine whether the
communication of river rights finds success in society. Employing the context of
hydropower development in the Mekong region, the article finds that an essentialist
strategy which claims that river rights have unlimited âmoralâ validity regardless of any
of the decision consequences is unlikely to succeed. Instead, it is proposed that moral
conflicts over river rights may ultimately only be resolvable âunmorallyâ, that is, by
procedural legitimacy â and this is best captured by employing a methodological
framework composed of thematic, social and temporal dimension
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Von Hippel-Lindau protein in the RPE is essential for normal ocular growth and vascular development
Molecular oxygen is essential for the development, growth and survival of multicellular organisms. Hypoxic microenvironments and oxygen gradients are generated physiologically during embryogenesis and organogenesis. In the eye, oxygen plays a crucial role in both physiological vascular development and common blinding diseases. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a monolayer of cells essential for normal ocular development and in the mature retina provides support for overlying photoreceptors and their vascular supply. Hypoxia at the level of the RPE is closely implicated in pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. Adaptive tissue responses to hypoxia are orchestrated by sophisticated oxygen sensing mechanisms. In particular, the von Hippel-Lindau tumour suppressor protein (pVhl) controls hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF)-mediated adaptation. However, the role of Vhl/Hif1a in the RPE in the development of the eye and its vasculature is unknown. In this study we explored the function of Vhl and Hif1a in the developing RPE using a tissue-specific conditional-knockout approach. We found that deletion of Vhl in the RPE results in RPE apoptosis, aniridia and microphthalmia. Increased levels of Hif1a, Hif2a, Epo and Vegf are associated with a highly disorganised retinal vasculature, chorioretinal anastomoses and the persistence of embryonic vascular structures into adulthood. Additional inactivation of Hif1a in the RPE rescues the RPE morphology, aniridia, microphthalmia and anterior vasoproliferation, but does not rescue retinal vasoproliferation. These data demonstrate that Vhl-dependent regulation of Hif1a in the RPE is essential for normal RPE and iris development, ocular growth and vascular development in the anterior chamber, whereas Vhl-dependent regulation of other downstream pathways is crucial for normal development and maintenance of the retinal vasculature
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MACUSTAR: Development and Clinical Validation of Functional, Structural, and Patient-Reported Endpoints in Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Purpose: Currently, no outcome measures are clinically validated and accepted as clinical endpoints by regulatory agencies for drug development in intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD). The MACUSTAR Consortium, a public-private research group funded by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative intends to close this gap.
Procedures: Development of study protocol and statistical analysis plan including predictive modelling of multimodal endpoints based on a review of the literature and expert consensus.
Results: This observational study consists of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal part. Functional outcome measures assessed under low contrast and low luminance have the potential to detect progression of visual deficit within iAMD and to late AMD. Structural outcome measures will be multimodal and investigate topographical relationships with function. Current patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are not acceptable to regulators and may not capture the functional deficit specific to iAMD with needed precision, justifying development of novel PROMs for iAMD. The total sample size will be n = 750, consisting mainly of subjects with iAMD (n = 600).
Conclusions: As clinical endpoints currently accepted by regulators cannot detect functional loss or patient-relevant impact in iAMD, we will clinically validate novel candidate endpoints for iAMD
Trust in Nanotechnology? On Trust as Analytical Tool in Social Research on Emerging Technologies
Trust has become an important aspect of evaluating the relationship between lay public and technology implementation. Experiences have shown that a focus on trust provides a richer understanding of reasons for backlashes of technology in society than a mere focus of public understanding of risks and science communication. Therefore, trust is also widely used as a key concept for understanding and predicting trust or distrust in emerging technologies. But whereas trust broadens the scope for understanding established technologies with well-defined questions and controversies, it easily fails to do so with emerging technologies, where there are no shared questions, a lack of public familiarity with the technology in question, and a restricted understanding amongst social researchers as to where distrust is likely to arise and how and under which form the technology will actually be implemented. Rather contrary, âtrustâ might sometimes even direct social research into fixed structures that makes it even more difficult for social research to provide socially robust knowledge. This article therefore suggests that if trust is to maintain its important role in evaluating emerging technologies, the approach has to be widened and initially focus not on peopleâs motivations for trust, but rather the object of trust it self, as to predicting how and where distrust might appear, how the object is established as an object of trust, and how it is established in relation with the public
Der diskrete Charme der Bourgeoisie - Ein Beitrag zur Soziologie des modernen WirtschaftsbĂŒrgertums
Entgegen der These der Auflösungserscheinungen des BĂŒrgertums stellt der Autor die Annahme auf den PrĂŒfstand, dass wir es nach wie vor mit gesellschaftlichen Fraktionierungen bĂŒrgerlicher Lebensweisen zu tun haben. Am Beispiel autobiographischer Schriften von deutschen Topmanagern stellt der Text ein modernes VerstĂ€ndnis des WirtschaftsbĂŒrgertums vor, das organisational (durch die Karrieremechanismen der Organisation) und institutionell (im Feld der Wirtschaft) verankert ist. Die moderne Sozialformation des WirtschaftsbĂŒrgertums ist nur noch auf der Grundlage von Organisationen denkbar. Sie lĂ€sst sich, jenseits von Klasse und Stand, als Positionselite beschreiben. Anhand der Autobiographien lĂ€sst sich die Reproduktion dieser Elite auf Basis einer engen VerknĂŒpfung zwischen familialer Herkunft, an organisationale Karrieren gebundene Leistungsbereitschaft und hoher formaler Bildung nachzeichnen. Die Abgrenzung in der Statusreproduktion zwischen Bildungs- und WirtschaftsbĂŒrgertum weist der Autor am jeweiligen VerhĂ€ltnis zur Bildung nach; zwar können beide einen hohen Bildungsgrad in Form von Bildungspatenten nachweisen, doch im Falle des WirtschaftsbĂŒrgertums herrscht ein instrumentelles VerhĂ€ltnis zur Bildung vor. Der hohe Bildungsgrad folgt hier dem BedĂŒrfnis, den Status mittels formaler Bildung abzusichern und damit die Gefahr der eigenen Austauschbarkeit - als Personal der Organisation - zu kompensieren. Der Text macht auĂerdem generationale Effekte sichtbar; insbesondere indem er darlegt, inwieweit der "moderne Manager" einerseits in der Betonung seines Status seinen VorgĂ€ngern gleicht und sich doch gleichzeitig in der Art der UnternehmensfĂŒhrung abgrenzt - indem er bspw. die Managementkonzepte seiner Zeit aufgreift
Watt-level millimeter-wave monolithic diode-grid frequency multipliers
Monolithic planar arrays containing in excess of 1000 Schottky diodes have produced watt level output at 66 GHz in a doubler configuration in excellent agreement with large signal predictions of the frequency multiplication. Current efforts are concentrated on fabricating and developing arrays of novel barrier-intrinsic-N+ (BIN) diode which promise increased performance in tripler and quintupler configurations
Development and validation of novel clinical endpoints in intermediate age-related macular degeneration in MACUSTAR
Background
Currently, no validated clinical endpoints for treatment studies exist for intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD).
Objective
The European MACUSTAR study aims to develop and clinically validate adequate clinical endpoints for future treatment studies in iAMD and to identify early determinants of disease progression to late stage AMD.
Material and methods
The MACUSTAR study protocol was developed by an international consortium of researchers from academia, the pharmaceutical industry and medical device companies. The MACUSTAR project is funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2) of the European Union.
Results
The MACUSTAR study consists of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal investigation. A total of 750 subjects with early, intermediate and late AMD as well as control subjects with no signs of AMD will be included with a follow-up period of 3 years. Overall, 20 European study centers are involved.
Conclusion
The MACUSTAR project will generate large high-quality datasets, which will allow clinical validation of novel endpoints for future interventional trials in iAMD. The aim is that these endpoints will be accepted as suitable for medication approval studies by the regulatory authorities and that understanding of the disease process will be improved
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